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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900935">The invisible ghosts are weeping</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosKatsudon/pseuds/ChaosKatsudon'>ChaosKatsudon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sneering Acorn [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Fae &amp; Fairies, Harry Potter Has a Twin, Seer Harry Potter, Seer Luna Lovegood, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:20:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900935</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosKatsudon/pseuds/ChaosKatsudon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Jean Granger knew and said many interesting things. The brightest witch of her age, with only a red head as a friend and even more time to concentrate on working far too much. This was her year; she could feel it. It had to be, she had waited for acknowledgment for three years. Hermione knew and said many interesting things. But nobody ever listened. </p><p>The fourth book of the series, once again in an alternate universe full of the wild. Something seems to be going on with the wild, purity and magic. And what's that ridiculous sports event Alex is forced to take part in? </p><p>Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine, sadly. Everything you recognize doesn't belong to me (duh)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sneering Acorn [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111436</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The invisible ghosts are weeping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>heyaaa, welcome back to the fifth part. i hated writing this part to be honest, for various reasons...but also now it starts with the books that are more boring (in my opinion) </p><p>if you haven't read the first four parts, i strongly suggest doing that, since some things are very different to canon. </p><p>a large thanks to my faithful beta once again. sopapilla continues to amaze me &lt;33 much love. </p><p>now have fun and do try not to strangle me :))<br/>~kats</p><p>(also i legitimately just realized that yes...the adults in my series do classify as being in relationships whoopsy)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hermione Jean Granger knew and said many interesting things. The brightest witch of her age, with only a red head as a friend and even more time to concentrate on working far too much. This was her year; she could feel it. It had to be, she had waited for acknowledgment for three years. Hermione knew and said many interesting things. But nobody ever listened. </p><p>Only the adults in the group were enthusiastic about the trip. The Quidditch World Cup this close to home was a big thing, and even if Lily and Remus had still argued that the Potters plus two couldn’t show themselves so publicly, James and Sirius had won in the end. Quidditch was a big thing, but Alex was bored by it after a minute of watching and Harry only liked it if he got to play. That was why the start of the game found them huddled together, whispering about the change in their house. </p><p>The sickness, as Alex called it, had spread even more. The walls were covered with greenish mould that had Alex carefully walking in the middle of corridors and rooms. It smelled, but yet again, none of the adults seemed to notice anything. Harry, who hadn’t said anything in the years prior, had taken to drawing runes into the ugly thing, hoping to make it disappear. The runes made it even more difficult for Alex to be close to any walls. The twins consequently spent most of their time outside that summer. </p><p>Alex’s new favourite place was in the middle of their garden, far enough from both the house and the woods to not be bothered. The boy had done all his homework within a week and was now reading ahead in all his classes and then some. The boy was content with ignoring the weird things happening around the garden. He ignored the way the grass started to burn one afternoon when Luna, who visited them very often, touched it with her bare feet. He ignored the birds that fell as soon as they got too close to the residence. At least five died near him every day and Alex’s green eyes didn’t even have a glance for them at this point. Only when the pages in his newest book, a very dark and rather illegal tomb Theo had sent him for his birthday, started to curl and crumble to dust did he go to his brother to ask him to draw a protective circle for him. </p><p>Harry and Luna spent most of their days together, wandering through the forest. They left burning runes in some trees, all of them chosen carefully. They sang with the fairies and laughed at how the little creatures started to scream as soon as they took each other's hands. Harry spent most of his nights talking to an acorn for hours on end, ignoring Alex’s protests regarding him not being able to sleep when Harry didn’t. The acorn told Harry things, and most of them made the boy childishly giggle in a way that would send everybody who was unlucky enough to hear it into a panic. </p><p>The horned figure cried every night, every time they heard Harry laugh.</p><p> </p><p>The twins and Draco, who had gotten pulled along by Alex, hid in the other world when the site of the game erupted into screams and flames. Harry had watched the flames dance in his eyes with a satisfied smirk until a green curse had almost hit him. Now, the air around them sang with the boy’s anger and the other two boys had to use every muscle of their bodies not to either attack the oldest in the group or to run away. Alex’s hand kept coming up to touch the necklace Harry had given him, comforted by the slight burning it added to his fingertips. </p><p>Nobody was there to take the blame for the dark mark. </p><p> </p><p>“Alexander Potter.” Blaise stared in disbelief when the Goblet of Fire flared again and spit out one of his best friend’s names. “Well, I’ll be damned”, the Italian wizard murmured, for once not able to comment sarcastically. No, the situation was too shitty for that. He did not stop himself because of any of his admittedly grey morals, but the fact that Theo swallowed loudly enough to be heard. What stopped him was Draco growing even paler, looking as if the moon had kissed him. What stopped him was Alex rising with an impassive look on his face, only the hardening of his jaw that only his friends were able to see giving away that he was scared of competing in a tournament made for people much older than him. </p><p>What stopped him was the sound of Harry cackling two tables away. </p><p> </p><p>Alex could hear the dungeons weep for him. It wasn’t making him feel better in the least. Fear had always been a weird concept to both twins, but contrary to his brother, Alex wasn’t a stranger to it. He could taste it now, a metallic, cold layer on his tongue. Magic hugged him closely and for once, he couldn’t sense any hostility. No, the wild was mourning for the brother of one of their own, and it amplified Alex’s fear to terror. Who wouldn’t be scared after all if the most powerful thing in the world sobbed for him, even if he were still alive. The next day, Alex found an offering of feathers woven around a tight net made of unicorn hair on the foot of his bed. </p><p>He knew it was Luna’s way of saying goodbye. </p><p> </p><p>After all, four of the champions had threatened to unleash legal hell on the noisy journalist covering their story, she had thankfully made a graceful retreat and had deleted all the lies she had been about to print. Fleur Delacour was very grateful for that, even if she didn’t quite know how the Potter boy had known what Sk... Skater? Seetar?...well, the insufferable woman had been writing about them. She had seen how he had grimaced slightly before ordering her in a tight voice to stop whatever it was that she was doing unless she wanted to be sued. Krum had followed swiftly. </p><p>In the beginning, Fleur had been quite angry that Potter had been chosen as an additional champion. Now, however, she could only feel pity for the lean fourteen-year-old who was doing his best not to show just how scared he was. He had an impressive mask for someone so young. Adeline, one of her best friends, had whispered that it was due to him being a Slytherin. Honestly, the Hogwarts students took their house rivalry to a ridiculous new level, which Fleur found most interesting. After all, she did love gossip above all else. It had never stopped her from being a model student and an impressive young witch. </p><p>But back to Potter. Her rightful anger hadn’t ceased to exist until she had heard magic sing a funeral song for the boy that night. Fleur had always been in tune with magic, being part Veela made her wild in all the right ways. She had sensed the green-eyed child’s power. It would do him no good however, Fleur’s mother had always told her the stories of magic’s chosen ones’ deaths being prophesised by magic herself. After all, how would the blonde know about magic hating Alex? Applause brought her back to the presence. With a huff, she directed her attention away from the intriguing teenager and his fate.</p><p>She had a dragon to fight after all. </p><p> </p><p>Ever since Alex had been chosen, Hermione had dedicated more time to researching than ever. For the first time, she was the one to copy homework for Ron, and for the first time, she neither cared about the fact that she had broken the rules, nor the bad mark resulting in copying the ginger’s work. The muggle-born was determined to somehow help the Slytherin. She could recite every fact and rule about the tournament. She could even name all the people who had given their lives for something as stupid as a sports event. </p><p>Hermione was well aware that her spitting facts wouldn’t help Alex. But she had found a way. She had been the one who had gotten Hagrid to slip up and tell her about the first challenge. Then, she had found a way to smuggle a little paper with just the name of the beasts on it into Alex’s bag. After that, she had researched even more, if that was even possible, and had eventually found an answer. Scamander wrote in his book that dragons were blind and rather allergic to the forbidden flowers of the waterfall. It was a weird fact, but Scamander described it as an ‘understandable difference between the creatures of fire and the tokens of water’. Besides, she had seen the Lovegood heiress with the flower before, and she wasn't exactly known for caring about subtlety. Another note went into Alex’s bag. </p><p>She watched with pride when Alex conjured a flower, ignorant to the fact that he shouldn’t be able to do that. </p><p> </p><p>Theo hadn’t taken kindly to waking up all wet from the incredibly cold lake. It was February for Merlin’s sake. Only Alex breaking down in exhausted tears had stopped him from hexing Dumbledore or Crouch, or even possibly both. The display of emotion was so vastly unpredictable that Theo took a solid five seconds to realize what was going on. And then it took him another thirty seconds to process what was going on. </p><p>He didn’t know how to deal with crying people, especially when said people were his emotionless best friend. So, he did what his mother had always done. He took Alex into his arms, murmuring soothing words into the raven locks. Theo was good at pushing away the fluttering in his stomach at the touch. They were only fourteen after all, and the frustration in Alex’s search for a partner for the ball had shown him that his friend didn’t harbour any feelings like the ones he felt. Theo blamed the cold for the icy butterflies in his head. </p><p>Only after Alex told him about the tears of magic did Theo truly realize that his friend was in big trouble. </p><p> </p><p>The daughter of the moon blinked her silvery blue, misty eyes at Neville, who was a few yards away. The boy was doing something that surely had to do with his love of plants. “Alex will die, you know?” The question was more of a statement, really, and directed at Harry who was sat next to her on the branch. The two of them were hidden by a charm, as the leaves had already died and refused to return until the sun managed to defeat winter. Luna disliked the dead season, but she couldn’t do more than plant seedlings in the walls. She drew another rune in the air. </p><p>“I know”, Harry answered in a detached voice, green eyes also staring at the champion of the clouds. Luna didn’t say more. She didn’t ask, why Harry didn’t seem to care about his brother or why mayhem made the boy laugh. She didn’t have to, because she could feel the twins’ cord in the air, the string that connected them. She didn’t have to, because she smelled Harry’s sadness, as faint as it was. She didn’t have to, because she was a seer and because Harry was her brother in all but blood. </p><p>Luna started to sing the song of the Deathly Hallows. </p><p> </p><p>Blue eyes widened when she heard a harmony nearby. Fleur was aimlessly wandering the grounds of Hogwarts. She was muttering in French, poems after poems, dedicated to placating the angry spirits surrounding her. The harmony came from the tree nearby, and Fleur closed her eyes when she felt it vibrate through her entire body. It was a calling and a warning at the same time. The flowers near her started to dance, and when she looked at the sky, she saw feathers falling from nowhere. She felt the earth rumble beneath her, and she knew that the carrier of the voice was far more powerful than she was. </p><p>Blue met blue, through a charm that should have prevented them from meeting. </p><p> </p><p>The maze was big. Bigger. It was built over the course of weeks and months and everyone in the castle loved it. Cedric Diggory wasn’t everyone. The boy was confident, almost overly so, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that he would lose in the maze, he knew it with every fibre of his being. He would lose and it wouldn’t matter because everybody loved him. Cedric was always kind, so kind that even Moody had commented on it. Cedric knew he would lose. </p><p>He couldn’t bring himself to care. </p><p> </p><p>Theo intercepted Alex after Defence. He knew that the boy hated the class, claiming the room smelled rotten. They hadn’t found out why yet. Theo also hated the class after the dancing spiders and green flashes. The Slytherin had allowed Alex to draw protective runes on his Defence notes, both boys hoping to stop the sickness of Moody’s room to spread to their common room. After all, Alex had told him that it had stopped spreading in Hogwarts since Alex had called it his home. He knew that his friend was glad about it, his descriptions of the Potter manor sounded nasty. </p><p>The heir of the house Nott pulled Alex into an abandoned classroom. They took out bits of earth and a stone they had gotten from the small stream near the centaurs' ritual clearing. Luna's goodbye gift, made from feathers and unicorn hair, joined the pile. Alex gently put a dead mandrake on top of it and sprinkled salt over them. They burned it at midnight. That was the second time they prayed to and for the wild. It felt right and wrong at the same time. </p><p>Theo felt exhausted for days. </p><p> </p><p>The hand that touched the trophy was cold and hot at the same time. Alex blinked when it sucked him into a tube, and he almost fell when he arrived at the graveyard. So that was why somebody had taken out his rivals with the Imperius charms and poisoned plants. They had wanted him to land here and meet his arch-enemy’s eyes. Voldemort had been assigned as Alex’s task when he had marked the boy with his last breath. “You’re supposed to be dead”, was all Alex said. </p><p>Tom Marvolo Riddle, who was now more commonly known as Lord Voldemort or the Dark Lord, was reluctantly impressed by the green-eyed child in front of him. Resigned acceptance was all that showed on the boy’s face. Not even Tom had had such a good face when he had been fourteen. “I know”, he answered with a smile that seemed almost caring, if one ignored the fact that Tom was about to kill a child. It was such a shame too; he could feel the talent in the boy. What he couldn’t feel, was the loving caress of magic. She loved him and hated the boy. A shame, truly. </p><p>Voldemort didn’t look dead. He didn’t look like someone who was supposed to be dead either. Alex flinched back the slightest bit at how...pure Voldemort looked. Young and pure in a way that was twisted and made Alex want to vomit. Pure in a way that resembled Dumbledore’s aura so closely that the two could have been brothers. Alex zoned out when Voldemort told him about Horcruxes and rituals and the kiss of magic and the fact that the boy was only there to die. </p><p>He had known about his death for months after all. </p><p> </p><p>Harry jumped, and his hand almost squished Luna’s hand when the air started to scream. “Something took him”, Harry stated carelessly, but he knew that Luna saw through the malice on his lips. They were both glad that it was over, but Harry regretted that it had to end that way. “Nicholas?”, he asked into the night, hopeful to see his brother somewhere near them. Nobody answered. Only the trees’ laughing, and the centaurs’ screeching accompanied the two children when they started to hunt down the fake in the school. “All the rotten ones have to go”, Harry muttered. </p><p>Barty Crouch Junior died without a sound. </p><p> </p><p>Lily feared the creatures she had given birth to. She loved her sons dearly, but fairy tales haunted her dreams, and the house was dying around her. Still, she feared for her son too when she watched the last task of the tournament that her boy had been forced into. The witch would have to have a very stern word with Albus Dumbledore after this. She clutched her husband’s hand until the man sighed and hugged her. </p><p>“He will be fine, don’t worry”, James whispered into auburn hair. </p><p> </p><p>The graveyard was strangely beautiful, even if the hooded figures made the view ugly. Alex felt their spirits dance when they bowed for their lord. Voldemort was back after all, and wizards and witches with no other purpose than to serve a being more powerful than them, finally had something to do once more. “It’s a shame that magic marked you”, Voldemort told Alex, and the boy tilted his head at the compassion in the man’s voice. Red eyes met green ones. “She always hated me”, Alex answered with a resigned smile. He looked at his wand in one of the minion's hands with a strange feeling of longing. </p><p>“I’m sorry.” Voldemort was being truthful, and he somehow knew that the boy knew that too. “I know”, the child answered, eyes bright with memories of tokens and prayers far away. Once again, purity attacked magic. Once again, magic hid behind the wild. This time, Voldemort didn’t die, and Alex hoped that he was at least very glad for it. The last thing Alex thought when he felt the green flash nearing, was about the amulet Harry had given him moons away. It had never saved him. Harry had lied. Then why hadn’t Alex tasted it? The world became green. </p><p>Alexander Remus Potter ceased to exist.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*coughs* so that was a wild ride... anyways, sopapilla8 has something to say to that</p><p>betas note: guYS I ALMOST KILLED KATS LIKE WTF THAT ENDING?? DO THEY WANT TO KILL US??</p><p>ok kats is back ahsjahsgs. sopapilla8 sent me threatening stickers after reading the chapter. i was in literal tears of laughter while she was screaming at me. love her tho, even if i did want to break her heart</p><p>stay tuned for an explanation...of sorts :)) ~kats</p></blockquote></div></div>
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